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Ask HN: Burned Out. What Now?

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Re: Ask HN: Burned Out. What Now?

#51

Post by H8crilA »

tinyhouse wrote: post #45
H8crilA wrote: post #36

Can you get a medical leave? I was/am in your shoes, and I managed to get a leave from a doctor (general doctor, then psychiatrist). After almost 2 months off I feel so much better. Of course this is likely to tip off your boss (I just didn't care any more, so wasn't an issue for me). After 4-6 weeks of just walks in nature and sleep fixing (medication included) I am now being highly encouraged by my therapist to get…

What medication is helping you sleep if I may ask?

The psychiatrist prescribed me Trazodone and sticking to a strict sleep schedule. Needless to say those are not over-the-counter drugs so go to a doctor if you need them.

Also, in general it was very instructive for me to read carefully the Wikipedia page for occupational burnout.

Re: Ask HN: Burned Out. What Now?

#52

Post by xupybd »

Quit get a low stress low thinking job if you can afford to. Preferably something physical. Keep up the therapy, listen to them more than us. Slowly you'll start to long to get back I to tech, you'll be able to think again. Then go back and enjoy it again.

Re: Ask HN: Burned Out. What Now?

#53

Post by crawdog »

tinyhouse wrote: post #38
HideousKojima wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't comment one way or the other on Whole 30, but my wife and I have drastically reduced our sugar consumption and it's made us feel significantly better. Eliminating it entirely is a huge pain, but choosing the lower/no sugar options whenever they're available has helped us cut out probably ~90% of our sugar consumption, and even just that has had a noticeable effect on our health.

Did you only eliminate sweets, chocolate, etc. or also bread, pasta, and all other things that break into glucose.

I have been on a similar trend lately. Trying to first focus on low gluten/no gluten and nothing with processed sugar in it. Often hard to eliminate it all but even a dramatic cut back in processed foods has made a difference on my sleep.

Re: Ask HN: Burned Out. What Now?

#54

Post by taylorhou »

tinyhouse wrote: post #38
HideousKojima wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't comment one way or the other on Whole 30, but my wife and I have drastically reduced our sugar consumption and it's made us feel significantly better. Eliminating it entirely is a huge pain, but choosing the lower/no sugar options whenever they're available has helped us cut out probably ~90% of our sugar consumption, and even just that has had a noticeable effect on our health.

Did you only eliminate sweets, chocolate, etc. or also bread, pasta, and all other things that break into glucose.

body treats everything carbs (except for dietary fiber and sugar alcohols) as glucose eventually. getting under 50g net carbs a day is fairly easy. staying under 20g net is harder but not impossible these days.

Re: Ask HN: Burned Out. What Now?

#55

Post by mandmandam »

tomcam wrote: post #22
amelius wrote: post #4

Start sleeping 10+ hours a day for a while.

I have horrible insomnia and would be thrilled with 4+ hours/day. Your notion that one could just sleep any amount at will is a wilder fantasy than the ones I have about Scarlett Johannson. Nothing helps: drugs, meditation, quitting caffeine, dietary changes, exercise, etc.

I'm sure people are always telling you things to try, but in case it helps - have you tried the 4-7-8 breathing technique for sleep, or Wim Hof? Both are fairly rapid in effect, and help manage cortisol.

Re: Ask HN: Burned Out. What Now?

#56

Post by RangerScience »

throw1234651234 wrote: post #37

Tell no one. Drink energy drinks. When it's not enough, drink more. Sleep 8. Wake up 10 years later with busted arteries and a great career. Yeaaa. Sippp. No, seriously, I don't have any better advice. P.S. The person saying sleep more is right. It will help you recover (partially) from the havoc the energy drinks wreak on your body.

Learned a couple of things that really helped me around sleeping:

1. Sleep is when your brain shifts processing power from consciousness/etc to maintenance. Like defragging a disk drive. When I can't sleep, I'll just try to focus on my body with this in mind, and it kinda works like sleep, and kinda helps me get closer to sleep.

2. If you're having trouble falling asleep, gently wrap the fingers of your dominant hand around the opposite thumb (you're just holding it). Do that for an estimated (do NOT count, or set a timer, or anything that requires focus) two minutes, then move to the next finger. It's fricking magic.

When I can't sleep and do these things, even if I don't wake up rested, I don't wake up still tired, either.

Re: Ask HN: Burned Out. What Now?

#57

Post by commanderjroc »

- Should I tell my boss and/or team?

This depends on how your relationship with your boss is and how they are. I once encountered the start of burn out and told my boss, and he said to go do something fun. So I played video games while he covered for me and let me know if I was needed for a meeting. It was great and I skirted burn out.

- Should I take time off? How much? Or should I try to work reduced hours?

I have taken up backpacking and have loved taking a day off or two to go out into the woods. I really love just disconnecting from the world.

- If I continue working, is there something in my working environment I should try to change?

Maybe try different text editors? I don't know if doing that would bring more stress as you have to learn new stuff. But, maybe you want to learn it, its up to you.

- Is there anything specific to working in tech and burning out that I should know about?

Burnout as I have been told and experienced is normal, but its usually a sign that something is off like a lot more work has been thrown at you or your team, or you feel like your contributions are not getting the attention you want. Or, you just want to not work because your brain is tired of always working.

As for boredom and not liking it, I have found that it pays to do nothing some times and just daydream at home, doing absolutely nothing. It helps my brain rest and clear out all its stressors.

Also keep in mind this advice is what works for me, but it may work for you. Take it with a grain of salt.

Re: Ask HN: Burned Out. What Now?

#58

Post by taylorhou »

a similar situation happened at my company where management was informed of severe burnout. we didn't have a policy/SOP on it but created one where we gave our valued employee 2 weeks forced PTO and actually suspended their gsuite so they couldn't access work.

so far so good. employee came back after being able to finally catch up on life, we hit reset as a team and we're off and away.

this doesn't help prevent future burnout specifically but it was an initial step that showcased that we cared more about our employees' health than the company.

Re: Ask HN: Burned Out. What Now?

#60

Post by hotgeart »

> Should I tell my boss and/or team? Should I tell them right away, or wait until I know what other steps I want to take? What should I expect their reactions to be?

No there're not your family. You need to talk with a professional and take decision together.

> Should I take time off? How much? Or should I try to work reduced hours?

It's impossible to say. Everyone is different. Some need to work part time, others a month off and others 2y. When I did my burn out at first it's 4 months, after 6 and at the end it's a year. Again decision with a professional. Evaluation every month at first.

Depend also your country/insurance. For me it's easy because I live in EU, so my salary was paid at 80% while i was taking care of myself for a 1y.

> If I continue working, is there something in my working environment I should try to change? Think of senior engineer in a typical DevOps-y SaaS startup.

Again need a professional and long conversations. May be it's the environement or the job itself.

> Is there anything specific to working in tech and burning out that I should know about? I feel like this isn't exactly rare.

Because it's always the same. Managers think when we add or remove features, it's just lego. You re-assign 1 ticket 3 others come.

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